First it was the banks, then the car companies and now it seems that the media and its "golden egg", the Premiership, may be next to wake up to the hard reality of economic recession. Setanta, it seems, are struggling to meet their financial commitments due to falling advertising revenues and a drop in subscriptions for its live coverage of sport. With free live streaming on the internet and pubs showing the big games, who needs to buy a subscription to Setanta? The business model is crumbling.
Already there is talk of three SPL clubs going to the wall as a result of Setanta's inability to honour its commitments, but how long will it be before the chill hits the Premiership? It isn't just the £35m that Setanta itself owes, it is the removal of competition for Sky, enabling the Murdoch organisation to submit a lower bid next time around or even to renegotiate the current deal. Given how much clubs now depend on Sky money, this could have very serious repercussions indeed.
All bubbles burst eventually, as we West Ham fans know only too well. There might be a few chairmen learning the lyrics of our club song in the very near future!
5 comments:
The prem will survive without Setantas money! Sky Sports will just buy the rights to the games they wanted in the first place!
Personally I hope Setanta go bust! I hate them! They are a rip off!
I hope Setanta don't go bust, Live streaming, chipped virgan media boxes look like they are going to send Setanta to the wall just like ITV digital. The only way Setanta will survive is if Vergin media allow it's customers the one football package were all games can be viewed and vice versa with Sky doing the same. Not a chance of Sky agreeing to that as they would be quite happy to see Setanta go bust.
It was always bound to happen. The current crop of Premiership clubs walk a tightrope. They must spend and spend stupidly to keep up with everyone else yet try and maintain some kind of business principles. IMO when the Premiership revenues start to plummet then some clubs will be in prime position to succeed. Those that have been well-run will succeed and those that have been paying Kieron Dyer 60k/week will be in serious trouble!
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning
(Stevie Smith)
I was very critical of the Icelandic owners when they first arrived with their “big wad” mentality and was accused of being a jonah for not buying into the dream of champions league in five years time. I accused the board of being naive and incompetent as the frankly ridiculous Eggert Magnusson did his impersonation of the great philanthropist.
So where are we after BG’s tenure? Before he arrived we took part and should by rights have won the best FA cup final in many, many years; we had a good young squad and an upwardly mobile manager in Pardew. We were playing good football and were regarded with a certain fondness by most football fans. We are now owned by a bank which is itself under financial duress to put it mildly, have admitted our culpability in the Tevez affair and not only agreed to give massive compensation to Sheff. Utd. but are widely regarded as a bunch of cheats who are getting their come-uppance.
“But the poor chap was the victim of a world wide recession”. If he delegated with the same naivety that brought us Eggert then it is hardly a surprise that his business went belly up. We have been left adrift at the mercy of the financial markets, owned by a company whose only objective is to maximise their investment.
And the business plan? A couple of years of ownership and then sell when the markets recover. Sounds fine, but what if the markets don’t recover, what if a new buyer does not come to our rescue? There has been one word for me that has summed up our club in the last three years and that is “naive”.
So as far as I’m concerned it’s thanks for nothing BG, whilst Mr. Magnusson was glad-handing it around the directors box, we should perhaps have been a little more concerned that perhaps he was not waving, but drowning.
"We will not revolutionise the squad. Our intention is to keep hold of all our best players and allow those who ask to leave to go".
"I can assure fans we will sanction investment in new players, but within the parameters of sensible budgeting based on revenues generated by West Ham.
Add those two togethor and divide by two and what have you got?
Any money for new players will come from the sale of some of the current squad. I dare say a small amount has been factored into the transfer to CB Holdings, but after that it will all be "sell to buy".
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